His Dark Reading Materials

What would cause you to stop everything and read?

I’m subscribed to quite a few blogs that come to my email, and I read them all. But sometimes I wonder if I should; after all, there’s only a finite amount of time in each and every day, and I don’t want to read these things because I’m obligated to. But often they reach out and grab me. So what is it about them that does this?

I’m pretty sure I’m like everyone else in this respect: I like things that grab my attention. I want something that pulls me in, and makes me want to read more.

Some of you will set up your blogs in such a way that I only get an excerpt from the beginning of your post, and I have to click through to the full post; and some of your emails come through with the full post in the text of the email. Often I’ll read the entire post in the email when this happens, and then I’ll go to comment and realize that I’m still in the email. I have to still click through in order to like and comment on your post.

That’s quite fortunate for you, because if I didn’t choose to like and comment, you wouldn’t get credit for my view of your post, because I wouldn’t have clicked through. So in that respect, if you’re one of these people that sends full text of your posts in the email – and I will happily tell you if you ask – you might consider using the “more” tag to break off an excerpt for the purpose of drawing in your email subscribers and your front page readers. After all, if everybody reads your posts off of your front page, you’ll never get accurate data on which posts are driving the most readers. Of course if that’s not what you want, then just ignore me!

Marja reading Stephen King (Photo credit: jcolman)

But hey, pardon me for getting a little off topic; let’s move on to books. What makes me want to pick up a book or read a book? Well, I tend to go after certain authors. When I pick up a new author that I haven’t ever read before, I’m taking a leap of faith. Usually I’ve read the inside of the jacket where it folds around the covers to get a little synopsis of the story. For example, I ordered Doctor Sleep, Stephen King’s new book, from Amazon today. I really didn’t need to know what it was about, but it’s good to have an idea; I trust my instincts because Stephen King is awesome, and I know I’m going to enjoy it. I take that for granted.

Which blogs I subscribe to, rather than just following, is something I choose with the same criteria in mind; if I’m reading, liking, and commenting on you every day it’s because I like you, I like your content, and I can fit you in. Plain and simple.

What do you look for in your quest for a good read?

This post was prompted by today’s Daily Post prompt.

10 comments

Daily Prompt: Reading Material | Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss says:

October 2, 2013 at 1:05 pm

[…] His Dark Reading Materials | Rob’s Surf Report […]

Picking a Blog to Read | Sogna Grandezza says:

October 2, 2013 at 2:46 pm

[…] His Dark Reading Materials | Rob’s Surf Report […]

Books that Glimmer | The Silver Leaf Journal says:

October 2, 2013 at 4:12 pm

[…] His Dark Reading Materials | Rob’s Surf Report […]

Pat(ricia) says:

October 2, 2013 at 7:03 pm

Interesting criteria and parameters for your choices – and I admit to feeling the same way – and behaving much the same – except – I use my WP Reader to keep track. At one point I was overwhelmed with blog email notices and I thought – crazy! Lol … but whatever works, works. 🙂

Btw …. a quick question – do you feel guilty if you decide to *trim* down your “I’m following” list because of whatever? Perhaps this best left for another time, another place.

Keep on surfing … and thanks for being a “regular” chez moi. :0

- Rob's Surf Report says:
  
  October 2, 2013 at 9:33 pm
  
  I’ll answer that. Guilt would only come into the equation if my reader wasn’t full of people I followed because they followed me. I’ll worry about feeling guilty when it’s people I read every day that I end up cutting.
  
  - Pat(ricia) says:
    
    October 2, 2013 at 9:37 pm
    
    thanks for your thoughts 🙂
    
    - Rob's Surf Report says:
      
      October 2, 2013 at 9:41 pm
      
      No problem. In the end, you’ve for to so what’s good for you.
      
    - Rob's Surf Report says:
      
      October 2, 2013 at 9:42 pm
      
      That was supposed to say “got to do”
      
      - Pat(ricia) says:
        
        October 3, 2013 at 11:50 am
        
        lol … yeah … I got that …. it’s the keyboard gremlins 😉
        
crookedeyebrows says:

October 3, 2013 at 8:39 pm

Interesting choice of words; we all have our own way of what we like